Maybe you’ve always had an idea for a book but were too daunted by the traditional gatekeepers of agents and publishers. Well now you can dust off the manuscript and get read to publish, because the growth of self-publishing services and social media makes it easier than ever to self-publish your book. But whether you self-publish or have a traditional book publisher, you’ll need to do more marketing, more outreach, more organizing — more of everything! Authors are really becoming entrepreneurs, needing to understand the business of book publishing more than ever (even if they never thought they’d need to know this). This week’s Mediatwits talks to successful self-published authors as part of our “Authors as Entrepreneurs” special, including self-published author, expert and MediaShift contributor Carla King and successful self-published authors Darcie Chan and Hugh Howey. MediaShift’s Mark Glaser hosts, along with Mónica Guzmán from the Seattle Times and GeekWire and Andrew Lihfrom American University.

How can journalists fight the war on journalism, both in the U.S. and abroad? As governments hunt down whistleblowers, leakers and journalists alike, many reporters are worried they now work in a world that criminalizes their profession, calling this a “DEFCON 2 journalism event.” Most recently, Chelsea (formerly known as Bradley) Manning, the source of the Wikileaks disclosures three years ago was sentenced to 35 years in prison, and David Miranda was detained in Heathrow airport for nine hours while helping his partner, the Guardian’s Glenn Greenwald, obtain documents related to NSA spying. How worried should journalists be when reporting on political, international affairs or national security? How should journalists work in the surveillance state and continue to report? This week’s Mediatwits will feature Tow Center director and former Guardian editor Emily Bell, NYU J-school professor and PressThink blogger Jay Rosen and Free Press’ Josh Stearns. MediaShift’s Mark Glaser hosts, along with Ana Marie Cox from The Guardian, Mónica Guzmán from the Seattle Times and GeekWire and Andrew Lih from American University.